The Honda Civic Type R, VW Golf R, and BMW M240i are three very good performance cars but they deliver their thrills in very different ways. Which is the quickest, however?
A look at the specs sheets of the three suggests that there should be a pretty clear pecking order with the BMW up front, the VW second, and the Honda in third. In terms of power, it is the M240i xDrive with a serious advantage over the others, pumping out 374 hp and 368 lb-ft (500 Nm) of torque from its turbocharged 3.0-liter straight-six engine.
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As for the Civic Type R, it delivers 316 hp and 295 lb-ft (400 Nm) of torque and while those are impressive figures, it is front-wheel drive and only sold with a six-speed manual, making it much harder to get off the line. Last but not least is the Mk8 Golf R with its 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder churning out 315 hp and 310 lb-ft (420 Nm). Like the BMW, it is all-wheel drive and does not rely on a stick shift.
In the first race, the driver of the BMW easily got the best launch and quickly pulled out an unassailable lead that the Golf R had no chance of matching. The Civic Type R meanwhile was left in the dust of its all-wheel drive competitors.
The second race was a very similar result with the BMW once again claiming the victory, finishing the quarter-mile in 12.4 seconds compared to the 12.7 seconds of the VW and the 14.2 seconds of the Honda.
It is in a rolling race where things get particularly interesting. Given the extra power enjoyed by the BMW, it obviously wins but the Honda did manage to pull away from the Golf R in the first rolling race.